Homemade vs Store-bought

You walk inside the supermarket, and quickly set out to find the baking isle. Once there, your entire body freezes as you stare wide-eyed at the marvelous selection of canned frosting staring back at you. You stare in disbelief as your mouth waters. Chocolate, Vanilla, Cream cheese, all of these delicious flavors taunting you, calling out your name in the form of a sweet sugary whisper.

This scenario has probably happened to some of us. Perhaps we have stared at those tempting cans of frosting and wished our homemade frosting came out tasting just as good. Well, here's a secret, it can be even better!

Tonight, I will take you step by step, and teach  you how to achieve the same awesome chocolaty taste of store bought frosting for a lot less money.

First things first, the ingredients.

You will need:

*2 Cups powdered sugar
* 2 tbsp unsweetened baking chocolate
* 2 tbsp butter
* 3 tbsp water, heated

*Electric Mixer or Whisk
*Sauce Pan
*Spatula

OK, now that you have all your ingredients, lets get started.

Step One:
Add butter and baking chocolate in a sauce pan over low heat, making sure to stir continuously in order to prevent chocolate from burning.

Step Two:
Once you see that the chocolate is fully melted, remove from heat , add sugar and water. Stir with spatula.

Step Three:
Use the whisk or electric mixer to mix thoroughly


In order to check if your frosting is ready, scoop some up with the spatula and frost the side of your pan. If the frosting sticks to the pan and has a thick consistency, then you're finished!

I hope you've enjoyed this recipe and enjoyed making your frosting! Remember, you can make anything you see at the store from the convenience of your own home, for a lot less money, and most likely with a lot better taste :)
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Soft N Fluffy

Ever wonder how the bakery makes their cupcakes so fluffy and spongy inside? The secret is simple, butter.
Yes, you heard right, butter.

 The texture of the cupcake will depend on how well the ingredients are mixed together, if there are any air bubbles in your batter , then the cupcake will most likely resemble dry hard cardboard.

So, the smoother the texture of the batter is, the greater your chances of success. Butter (or sometimes oil) is used in virtually every recipe. It is the secret to baking, cooking, and it might as well be the secret to life as we know it. A recipe will always call for a specific amount of butter or oil. In order to obtain that fluffy soft cupcake, you will need to add a teaspoon (a regular small sized spoon, not the actual measuring teaspoon) of butter to your recipe. This will allow the ingredients to settle quicker and will allow for a much more smoother batter.

 CAUTION: Do not add more than this to your batter, since excess butter can make the cupcake fall apart once it is cooked, not to mention it leaves the inside EXTRA GREASY. Nobody likes eating a ball of grease lol You will be able to tell if you put way too much butter in the batter once the cupcakes are out of the oven. All of the oil will sink to the bottom, pulling apart the cupcake from the baking cups from the bottom.

So remember, the smoother the batter texture, the fluffier the cupcake!!

But don't take my word for it, TRY IT! ;)

Tips for a better cupcake!

Just some simple tips to follow when aiming for the perfect cupcake :) I found this online, hope it helps all my bakers at heart.

1. Keep It Organized

Use as few bowls and utensils as possible. I have the tendency to use a new spoon for each ingredient, but when all you want to do is eat your delicious cupcakes and you're faced with a sink overflowing with dirty dishes, it might discourage you from making cupcakes again in the future. Remember, all the ingredients are getting mixed together anyway. Measure the sugar and butter right into the bowl of the mixer; reuse bowls and clean up as you go along.

2. Bookend With Dry Ingredients

Whenever combining dry ingredients with liquid ingredients, start and end with the dry ingredients—it helps get the perfect consistency.

3. Whip It Good

When mixing ingredients in a stand mixer, put the mixer on max speed for the last five seconds.

4. Add Gradually

Add ingredients bit by bit, mixing between each addition, rather than dumping everything together then attempting to mix a mountain of ingredients. For instance, when making the batter, add one egg at a time, mixing briefly in between each addition.

5. Keep It Even

A key to successful cupcake-making is consistency. A consistent size is necessary to even baking (otherwise you will be stuck with a pan of cupcakes in which some are under-baked and others are over-baked). Rather than eye-balling your batter as you use a spoon or spatula, try using an ice cream scooper instead.

6. High-Quality

The best quality ingredients will result in the best taste. This may be a no-brainer, but it's worth it to use, for example, actual vanilla beans to flavor vanilla frosting. (After you have scraped the inside of the bean for the frosting, save the exterior and put it in a sugar canister: it not only perfumes the sugar, but gives it a hint of vanilla taste).

7. Watch The Shine

When mixing ingredients for the frosting, add the butter—and cream cheese, if the recipe calls for it—then begin adding sugar before the mixture becomes shiny. (Shininess means that the ingredients are starting to melt, and you want to add the sugar before that happens).

8. Fully Mixed?

To gauge whether frosting is sufficiently mixed, taste it for texture: it should be creamy rather than grainy. If it's grainy, keep mixing.

9. The Bounceback

Right out of the oven, the cupcakes should be able to take a bit of pressure from your fingers and still be able to bounce up. Cupcake tops may still be a little sticky right out of the oven, but they will continue to cook in the minutes after.

10. Eat 'Em Up!

Your cupcakes should be consumed within 48 hours for optimal taste. (This is probably no challenge for most of us. If you can't polish them all off, share!). Don't put your cupcakes in the refrigerator; it dries out the cake and the frosting loses its flavor. Keep them in an airtight container in a cool place in your home.

Hello there kitty!

Ok.. Whether you're a cat or dog person, I'm sure we can all appreciate this adorable Hello Kitty Cupcake!!

One of my first cupcakes, definitely made for a sweet tasting memory :)

Warm, Chewy, Chocolate Chip Heaven!

You've followed directions to the letter, making sure everything was weighed and measured. Making sure that all ingredients were added, and mixed to perfection. The timer responsible for counting down the minutes to your sweet debut has finally gone off, and you've never been more ready. That sweet  aroma coming from the kitchen caresses your senses, you cannot help but to inhale deeper. The smell is so sweet, you can almost taste the melted chocolate on your salivating tongue. Today you do not believe in diets, scales, and size 2 jeans. Your only obsession is this perfectly formed chocolate chip cookie.


Baking the perfect chocolate chip cookie rests not only on mixing the ingredients together flawlessly, but making sure your baking time is impeccable. The secret to perfectly soft and chewy cookies is oven time. You should not leave cookies in the oven for more than 15 minutes, the ideal cooking time would be 10-15 mins.

Most people don't realize that anything you take out of the oven continues cooking for a few minutes with what I like to call "leftover heat". Your cookies will still be cooking with the leftover heat from the oven once you take them out to cool.Therefore, you do not want to overcook them and end up with hard cookies!